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3 Effective Ways to Engage your eCommerce Facebook Fans

Retail is the top performing industry for customer acquisition through Facebook and 71% of people are more likely to buy something from a business they follow online.

Having a Facebook presence for your business has never been more important.

The best way to capitalise on your Facebook presence is to build a community of fans that are engaged with your content and your brand. Below are three tips to get you started.

Engagement is key

Engagement can occur when consumers are invited to experience the brand by joining in on the conversation occurring on the brand’s social media platform with the brand, product, fellow users and enthusiasts of the brand. So.. how do we make this happen?

Nutella’s Facebook page which was originally created by a fan

Take a look at Nutella - an extremely popular brand that positions itself instantly in peoples’ minds as a puppy would on a person’s lap. It’s Facebook inception can be traced back to a fan whom reportedly created their page in 2009 which gained 3,056,762 fans at the time, ranked as the fourth most popular page on all of Facebook, and yet however basic it’s content was, Nutella sales in the U.S. saw an increase of 14%. That fan certainly deserves free Nutella for life!

Typically growing fan pages like this on Facebook is more comparable to trying to get a cat to sit on your lap. It doesn’t automatically happen; you have to work at it. In other words, unless your brand is Nutella, you have to make a real investment in the information on your Facebook page and commit to updating your Facebook page at least on a daily basis.

Who is more likely to 'like' your page?

So the ultimate question is what can you do to make your product’s Facebook page as appealing as possible to potential fans? The answer is that you make sure the CONTENT you have there is worth consuming in the first place. Here are a few ways to maximise engagement on Facebook.

1. Memes

The Phrase on top “One does not simply” along with the image is a popular Meme

An Internet Meme is an image, video, or other digital content that is passed from one internet user to another, typically it is funny or entertaining. Memes are a great supplement to your content on Facebook. A meme has the ability to create buzz and exposure around a product in a short period of time and establish a connection with the customer.

For instance images produce much higher interaction on Facebook which can be seen on Domino’s Movemeber image displayed on its Facebook page below.

A Movember themed post on the Dominos Page

Memes can help make your business more transparent and personable. For instance memes can be created using current staff or company related things. You can also encourage users to submit their own memes, see Skittles below where two fans of the brand have managed to transform dozens of skittle wrappers into matching outfits.

Yes, they are wearing clothes made from Skittles wrappers.

A significant Meme worth noting and that people couldn’t get enough of was the Harlem Shake, which is a music video that debuted on YouTube in February 2013. Brands latched onto this phenomenon, quickly creating their own versions of the video meme and posting them on YouTube and Facebook, the objective being to increase video views, likes, shares and positive comments. TechCrunch states "Content creators, and especially “viral marketers,” would do well to structure their products around a remixable formula when possible." Although this may sound ambitious it is easier to do for a retail product. Pepsi created a number of their own Harlem shake videos. As did the popular women’s clothing retail brand Topshop.

2. Include a call to action

Businesses survive on having customers. Facebook can be great for generating exposure to the brand or product but in order for it to be effective it should help generate leads. An effective way of doing this is by communicating with your fans or potential fans on Facebook using a call to action (CTA) which is a banner, button or some type of graphic or text which help inform and encourage users what to do next. It strives to convert a user into a lead and later into a customer. There is a strong correlation between the phrasing and structure of a Facebook status update and how users will engage with a post. For best post engagement, be sure and use a CTA. For example you can probably figure out below what the Dominos Pizza cover photo on its timeline is calling you to do.

Dominos Call-to-action on their Facebook cover photo

Highlight specific offers such as ebooks, coupons, webinars, free gifts, applications, and the like in your Facebook cover photo. CTA rich cover photos will help improve engagement with your brand on Facebook. It is important to use visuals that will engage your audience the most and ultimately generate new leads.

A call-to-action Facebook cover photo template

3. Timing is really important

Timing is key in order to entice your Facebook fans to engage with your brand. It is important to optimize the prime times to reach your customer. A report on consumer fan engagement has identified trends based on day of the week, time of day and the frequency of the post: Day of the week: engagement peaks on Sunday for the shopping and retail front, Thursday for Fashion, Healthcare and beauty brands perhaps in preparation for the weekend. It is advisable for both industries to post content during these recommended peak times in order to optimise engagement levels. Time of day: the timeframe between 8am to 2pm represent optimum times to post content and potentially incur higher engagement return levels. 8am to 11am fresh in the morning was an opportune time to increase engagement with fans. Also 11am and 2pm was found to be not only the most popular time for brands to publish posts, but also had the highest number of top performing posts.

Comparison of the most and least popular days for fan engagement levels on Facebook

Frequency: this has also been shown to have an effect on Facebook engagement. Pages that posted one or two times per day receive 40% higher user engagement compared to pages that had more than 3 posts per day. Similarly auto-posting to Facebook decreases likes and comments by 70%. Ultimately though it is the quality of your that post matters. It is well worth taking the extra minute to manually craft a decent Facebook post.

When it comes to posts - quality is better than quantity

Remember that committing to Facebook is an investment. Everyone would love if their Facebook page was born with a social spoon in their mouth like Nutella. However, it is more fulfilling to build your own page than for a third party to do so. So have fun, take these steps on board, update your page regularly, and don’t get frustrated if the Likes on your page remain stagnant at times. Think long term and engage your fans where possible staying true to your brand.

Ideally in the longer term or if not done already this is what your e-commerce Facebook page should be striving for in order to optimise engagement levels down the line. Developing your brand across several social media outlets and synchronising them will help develop a community and that is when it will start paying dividends.

What do you do that engages your Facebook fans the most? Let us know in the comments below.